Development of Sustainable Energy and Water Supply Systems for Off-Grid Remote Communities in Arid Regions

This thesis has an interdisciplinary nature and deals with sustainable rural development in arid regions. The main focus of this work is the improvement of energy and water supply and use and the development of a sustainable energy supply system.

Absence of convenient energy supply and inefficient water supply and use were identified to be the core problems in remote and off-grid rural regions. Accordingly, the objectives of this work were designed to satisfy the energy and water needs by exploiting the local natural resources in sustainable manners, i.e. employing renewable energy resources instead of fossil fuels for power generation and developing adequate techniques for water use. Comparative analysis was employed as a tool for decision-making, e.g. for the selection of the energy supply system, the water transport technique and the energy system components. A new established village (New Kalabsha Village) in the Lake Nasser Region in Upper-Egypt, was selected as a representative case study.

Concepts to transport water for irrigation purposes have been developed in this work based on ensuring the enhancement of energy savings and the reduction of water losses. Consequently, the option of transporting water through optimised open channels from surface water source to the acreage plots has been proved to be more adequate for the target region than transportation by pipes, due to energy and cost saving aspects.